it's passed in the resolved in the affirmative tonight Australia taking an unprecedented stat becoming the first country in the world to ban the use of social media apps for anyone under the age of 16 that's pretty huge The Landmark law which overwhelmingly passed with bipartisan support drawing immediate reaction globally on the very apps expected to be the target of it including Tik Tok Facebook Instagram Snapchat and X do we all agree that this is like good but bad at the same time under the new law tech companies will be required to take reasonable steps to
verify a user's age and prohibit those under 16 from creating accounts or else face millions and fines we have heard the cries of families who are suffering the controversial measure meant to help protect young people from the negative effects of social media the American Psychological Association has warned about the addictive nature of these apps and the negative impact it can have on a child's mental health and body image in Australia Wayne Holdsworth says his son died by suicide after a sextortion scam anyone that says that this is not a good idea has not lived through
my my life but the law is facing Fierce opposition including from the big tech companies and Elon Musk who wrote on X seems like a backdoor way to control access to the internet by all Australians and others including some teens are questioning how a law like this will be enforced it will only create a generation of young people who will be more technologically literate in bypassing these rules Liz that is such a good point how is this law going to be enforced I mean that really is the big question right now and there's not a
lot of specifics in the law right now Gotti we do know that it could be that they use some sort of Technology that's able to estimate someone's age based on a video or maybe they're going to require users upload documentation proving their age it's going to be up to the tech companies to figure this out they have a year to do so before the law takes effect in 2026 Scotty thanks for watching stay updated about breaking news and top stories on the NBC News app or follow us on social media
